Walter Mondale and his wife Joan Mondale wave to the crowd after the former US vice-president gave his acceptance speech as the candidate for US Senate for the DFL in Sept. 2002.

Former President Jimmy Carter pays tribute to Joan Mondale at her memorial service at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014 in Minneapolis. Joan Mondale, 83, died Feb. 3. At right is Vice President Joe Biden who also spoke.

MINNEAPOLIS — Political dignitaries joined family members at the memorial service Saturday for Joan Mondale, the wife of a former vice president who was remembered as “a highly charged battery of positive energy” for her passion and persistence about arts, politics and community.

Vice President Joe Biden, former President Jimmy Carter and their spouses Jill and Rosalynn were at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis to pay tribute to Walter Mondale’s devoted partner, who died Monday at age 83 after an extended illness. Leading Minnesota officials, along with Japan’s consul general, filled rows of pews at the two-hour service.

“I tried to find a phrase to describe Joan, and I found this one: ‘Live your life as though it was a work of art,’ ” Carter said.

Joan Mondale leveraged the political prominence of her husband to focus national attention on arts and culture. He was vice president in the 1970s and a Democratic nominee for president in the 1980s.